


Nevivon

by moonmoth (greyvvardenfell)



Series: Fictober 2019 [25]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Implied Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:55:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23571964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyvvardenfell/pseuds/moonmoth
Summary: Reyja and Julian explore Nevivon.
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak
Series: Fictober 2019 [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696495
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Nevivon

**Author's Note:**

> For the Fictober prompt: "You keep me warm."

Nevivon was another world, flat and white and alien. Fountains of steam from the distant hot springs smudged land into sky at the horizon line, like the whole country had been captured inside an eggshell. Geyser plumes spouted sulfuric stench at the edges of salt-encrusted forests, arranged on terraced basins stacked to the height of hills.

Where the heat of underground water rising to the surface didn’t melt it away, snow swirled and drifted, the moisture in the air making it heavy enough to stick together despite the small flakes in which it formed. As soon as Mazelinka’s ship sailed close enough to the coast for the tiny crystals to pile up, Julian beamed, swinging down from the rigging to fetch Reyja and bring her on deck to kiss snowflakes from her eyelashes and feel the warmth radiating from her hands.

Mazelinka insisted on taking them to an outfitter’s the moment they docked, owned by her old friend Seriozhenka. The small, austere shop was managed by an equally small and austere man, whose face crinkled into a startlingly warm smile when he recognized his customers.

Boisterous Neviv and backslapping hugs, cheers of greeting and laughter soon swept through the room, leaving Reyja lingering awkwardly at the edge of the reunion. But Julian didn’t forget her, intertwining his fingers with hers and switching back to Vesuvian to fill her in before he introduced her.

“Pasha and I spent many a day terrorizing poor Serio here, back when he owned a market stall instead of a shop. He’d try to have us run errands to spare the grandmas some of our mischief, but, ahhh, we’d find it anyway.” He winked, grinning broadly. “It’s good to see him again. Truly, I can’t wait to have everyone meet you, my darling. They’ll love you.”

Reyja squeezed his hand, peering up into his eyes with a wry smile. “Are you just saying that because it’s too late to say anything else? I already feel like a burden.”

“Not at all!” Julian cupped her cheek, drawing his thumb across the silk-soft skin beneath her eye. “You could never be a burden, love, and I wouldn’t put you in a position where—”

“Hey, Ilya! Stop hogging Reyja and be polite!” Portia’s strident voice cut across his words.

“I would very much like to make the acquaintance of your friend, Ilyushka,” a new voice added, speaking Vesuvian with an overlay of the deep, rich throatiness of Neviv. “Or is she something more to you?”

Julian sighed happily and slid his hand down Reyja’s back. “Ahh, Serio, my Reyja is everything to me.”

——

Seriozhenka provided them all with proper Neviv cold weather gear free of charge as a welcome gift and, after a long one-on-one conversation with Julian during which they drank, laughed, cried, and, Reyja suspected, discussed much more than just their vacation plans, the four of them set off into the village. Mazelinka had given orders to her crew to have their bags taken to the two houses at the end of the street marked by a carving of a nightingale. Portia called dibs on the yellow cottage, the first of the two, and took off running for it with Pepi hot on her heels as soon as they rounded the corner, her laughter muffled by the snow. Mazelinka rolled her eyes, grumbled something about the relentless energy of youth, and passed a bronze key to Julian for the other house before starting after her. Julian tucked the key into the pocket of his furry black coat and reached for Reyja’s hand.

“Do you want to go see our accommodations, my dear?” he asked, swinging their linked arms gently. “Or something else? Nevivon is our oyster.”

“I don’t know. We could just walk around, see what we can see. Take advantage of being off that ship and alone together for the first time in—”

“Sixteen days?” Julian interrupted, too quickly. “Erm, I mean… if that’s, ah. If that’s how long the voyage took.”

Reyja laughed, tugging on his fluffy collar to draw him down for a kiss. “I was counting too, lovely.”

“Were you? Oh. Well, then. I don’t feel so, mmm… lecherous, knowing that.”

“Juley.”

“We had never gone that long without before! I was nearly out of my mind, darling! Feeling you so close every night but having my little sister right next door? Torturous!” Julian gave a theatrical shudder and sagged against her.

Reyja rolled her eyes. “Your little sister is an adult, and not only an adult but one who grew up with you for a brother. I think she would have understood a grunt or a moan here and there.”

“Oho, it would’ve been more than a grunt or a moan. You know I can never stay quiet with you. Even so, there was certainly something, ah, appealing, wasn’t there, about the whole situation.” His suggestive eyebrow almost disappeared under the edge of his new otterskin cap. “Wasn’t it worth the wait?”

“It was very nice,” she admitted. “Even when Portia found us in the end anyway, because, uh, we were fucking in the hold like animals.”

“Mmmm, guilty as charged, my darling. It will be wonderful to make love to you in a bed again, for the sake of my back if nothing else.”

Reyja rubbed her fingers along the sides of his spine as best she could through the thick fur of his coat. “You sore? We could forgo the walk for now and just go take a bath if you wanted.”

“Oh, I’m always sore these days, love. Not as young as I used to be, you know, and I’m sure this chill won’t do my joints any favors.” Julian inhaled the crisp air and released his breath in a rush of steam, watching the tendrils curl away before smiling down at her. “In any case, you won’t find baths here. There are the hot springs, which we absolutely must visit, daily if possible, and showers.”

Reyja cocked her head. “Why no baths?”

“Why try to outdo what nature has already provided?” he responded with a shrug. “The water pressure here is so high, from the geysers and such, that tapping into it for plumbing needs special licensing. We Nevivonians are a practical people; we wouldn’t waste that dispensation building something we could get for free just down the road.”

“And it’s somehow more practical to trek down the road for a bath?”

He laughed. “That’s what the showers are for! And believe me, it’s remarkably soothing to feel that cascade of warm water rolling down your body at the end of a long day.”

“Is it now?”

Color rose to Julian’s cheeks, unrelated to the bite of the cold. “Erm… we could see for ourselves, you know…”

——

They tumbled into bed together, bare and clean, exhilarated and tired from their shared shower. The rented cottage had provided amenities showcasing Neviv skills, locally produced salt-soap and handwoven towels that soaked up the water dripping from their bodies better than any other towels they’d ever seen.

“We’ll have to get some of these,” Julian commented, running the fabric through his hands. “For ourselves if not the clinic. Just imagine how much—”

The imaginary scenario was driven from his mind by the press of Reyja’s lips and the movement of her hands, and then they had to turn on the water all over again.

The bed was piled with blankets and furs from the region, well-suited for the cold. Julian stretched out on top of them and hauled Reyja onto his chest, cradling her in his arms with his nose against her damp hair.

“Aren’t you cold, Juley?” she murmured after a while.

“You keep me warm, my darling.” He kissed an arc across her forehead. “But if you’re cold, of course we can, mm, snuggle up under the covers. Take a little nap, perhaps?”

“You’re really taking to this new sleeping habit, aren’t you? I like it.”

Julian chuckled as they repositioned themselves under the layers of bedding, Reyja curling against his side with her nose tucked into his neck. He glanced down and gave her another kiss, this one on the crown of her head, before securing his arm around her back.

“You make such a pleasant bedfellow, my love. Some days there is nothing I would rather do than stay exactly like this. But knowing I have you to return to each night, to fall asleep and wake up next to… well, that’s the true beauty of it.”


End file.
